


Rebuttal

by talefeathers



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Arthurian Mythology & Related Fandoms, Le Chevalier de la Charrette | Lancelot the Knight of the Cart - Chrétien de Troyes
Genre: Bickering, Blood and Injury, False Accusations, Gen, Kay Rights, Protective Siblings, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29891760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: Kay wakes up in Bademagu's castle to the sound of raised voices, one of which is Guinevere's. He leaves his room to investigate and finds that Meleagant has made a very serious accusation.
Relationships: (discussed) - Relationship, Guinevere & Kay, Kay & Arthur Pendragon (Arthurian)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Rebuttal

Kay never enjoyed waking up in Bademagu’s castle, with his pissant son Meleagant ensuring each night that the wounds Kay had suffered at his hands never healed, but waking up in Bademagu’s castle to the sound of raised voices added a dimension of dread that Kay could have done without. Especially once he realized that one of those voices belonged to the Queen.

He took a deep breath in through his nose, sighed it out through his mouth, then began the agonizing process of pulling his bruised and bandaged body out of bed.

“I do not see this as a laughing matter, your majesty,” that dog Meleagant was saying as Kay shuffled into the hall.

“If you truly knew what you were saying,” Guinevere answered, and Kay heard now the laughter in her voice, “I assure you, you’d laugh, too.”

“I hope there’s a very good explanation as to why you’re all making so much thrice-damned noise,” Kay growled.

All eyes turned to him, then. Bademagu looked as lost as Kay felt, but the other two faces showed equal parts malice and glee. He was certain that Guinevere and Meleagant had very different reasons for looking so pleased with themselves.

“Why don’t you tell him?” Guinevere asked Meleagant, still looking at Kay all the while. “Explain to Sir Kay your charge against him and see if he doesn’t find it as ridiculous as I do.”

Kay could feel anger, now, rising to meet his annoyance as he turned to meet Meleagant’s gaze.

“You have some grievance with me?” he asked him icily, and he was satisfied to see a flicker of fear pass through the young man’s eyes, though surely he knew better than anyone that Kay was in no fit condition to follow through on any threats. Meleagant recovered quickly, however, and made his accusation without faltering.

“There’s blood on the Queen’s sheets,” he said. “Blood that matches your wounds, Sir Kay. Do not attempt to deny it; you have wronged your lord, and have lain with your lady.”

Kay blinked at his accuser as he began to understand why Guinevere’s impulse had been laughter. He breathed in through his nose, but couldn’t help the grumble that rolled out through his mouth.

“Ignoring, for the moment, that I can barely fucking move,” Kay said, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers, “You couldn’t pay me to bed that shrew.”

Meleagant and Bademagu both flinched, stricken, to hear him speak of the Queen in such a way. Guinevere, however, only burst once again into laughter.

“Never you worry, Sir Kay,” she said. “I’d put out both my eyes before I’d lie with such a loathsome wretch as you.”

“Both eyes, you say? That might be an improvement. Though not enough to tempt me toward the bed of a heartless, conniving harpy.”

“Oh, be assured, I have no interest whatsoever in tempting any self-absorbed, manipulative cowards.”

“I confess,” Bademagu interrupted as Kay was drawing breath to fire back, “that you have all confused me terribly.”

“I am bound by oath ever to preserve the honor and safety of my noble lady,” Kay said, turning to Bademagu. “I also despise her utterly.”

“And I you, dear seneschal,” Guinevere sneered.

“I refute your claim for both of these reasons,” Kay said, his expression hardening as he faced Meleagant again. “But there is a third.”

He took a step toward Meleagant, and was pleased to see Meleagant tense as he stopped himself from stepping back.

“You accuse me of wronging my lord, the King,” Kay said, letting the anger that had risen in him turn to ice in his voice. “And that, above all the other wrongs you have done me since I arrived here, I will not suffer.”

He took another step, and even as stooped as he was under the pain of his injuries he towered over that cur Meleagant. Meleagant, who surely knew better than anyone that Kay was in no fit condition to follow through on any threats, seemed to shrink.

“Arthur is my brother,” Kay said, “and I am his seneschal. I would rather die than betray him.”

He smiled, then. His ugliest, most bloodthirsty smile.

“But I think I’ll just kill you, instead.”

**Author's Note:**

> I read The Knight of the Cart almost immediately after reading [this post about Camelot's politics in the Dutch tradition](https://reynier.tumblr.com/post/626025881366904832/camelots-politics-in-the-dutch-tradition) , and it just really made me want to see how Kay and Guinevere would react to the accusation of having slept together if they hated each other's guts. Also I just loved Kay offering to fight Meleagant even as injured as he was, so I couldn't help but sneak that in there, too!


End file.
